Seated Core Exercises such as sit-ups and abdominal crunches represent commonly accepted exercises that strengthen core muscles. Such core muscles include, among others, the hip flexors, rectus abdominus, iliopsoas, tensor fasciae latae, rectus femoris, Sartorius and oblique muscles.
It is well known among those skilled in arts related to physical fitness activities that pain associated with the coccyx and/or tailbone areas commonly follows the performance of abdominal exercises, such as abdominal crunches or sit-up exercises. A prevailing belief is that such coccyx and/or tailbone region pain is caused by the repetitious contact with the ground associated with physical activities associated with abdominal crunches, sit-ups, and associated exercises.
Furthermore, pain and discomfort may occur as a result of friction between the lower spinal regions and associated anatomical features and the ground. Such lower spinal regions and associated anatomical features include the areas surrounding the coccyx, the sacrum and the lumbar regions, representing areas of the body that maintain and experience the most movement and contact with the ground when performing fitness movements including abdominal crunches, sit-ups, and associated exercises.
Discrete areas of skin which come into contact at the interaction of parts of the body surrounding the sacral area and the coccyx areas represent yet another cause of the discomfort and pain deriving from contact pressure and friction resulting from fitness movements including abdominal crunches, sit-ups, and associated exercises. For instance, in a seated position, abdominal movements create increased skin-on-skin interaction, movement and friction between medial portions of the gluteous maximus. Such increased friction, movement or interaction often results in discomfort. Such discomfort may include skin irritation and chafing. The painful outcomes associated with fitness movements result in drawn out healing processes, in which scabbing and scarring persists. This is a significant problem in the fields of physical therapy and athletic training, as such scarring, scabbing and associated conditions take significant time to heal, resulting in delays and/or reductions in fitness related and rehabilitation related activities. Resultantly, the subject, often a patient or athlete, remains unable to perform exercises requiring a seated position for some time following the onset of such conditions.
Some items known in the prior art attempt to alleviate discomfort by providing support in a radial convex arch to provide curvature support to the lumbar region while performing Seated Core Exercises in coordination with natural lumbar curvature in the spine often referred to as the lumbosacral and lumbolumbar curvature. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the term “Seated Core Exercise” as used herein refers to any core exercise that involves a seated position, including but not limited to exercises such as sit-ups, abdominal crunches, Russian twists, Turkish get-ups, and other core strengthening exercises that are performed involving a seated, supine or intermediate position thereof. Most such devices fail to address issues associated with anatomical friction. Generally, they fail to adequately address issues associated with friction and pressure associated with the contact between a body and the ground and skin-on-skin friction.
Other devices in the prior art attempt to alleviate friction with the ground as well as skin-on-skin interaction with the combination of a convex contoured lumbar support coupled with a posterior support constructed of a generally softer material than that of the ground or seating surface available to a user of such devices when performing Seated Core Exercises. Such devices provide a flat or substantially planar posterior support. However these and similar devices fail to support the basic form of the human anatomy in a manner that distributes the load of the user sufficiently in order to prevent concentrated loads. The failure of such devices to solve the occurrence of concentrated loads compounds the problem of pain and discomfort in the execution of Seated Core Exercises.
Other previously known devices utilize a flat support surface, often with cushioning. The human posterior region, including the buttocks, is a substantially convexly radial form. A flat support surface as provided in the prior art, creates a limited interface surface between the user's posterior and the device in use at the tangential point of contact between the rounded posterior and flat support. Such devices fail to provide the contoured support needed to adequately relieve pain and discomfort.
Other devices known in the prior art associated with Seated Core Exercises attempt to alleviate pain or discomfort during the performance of Seated Core Exercises via a pressure mitigation solution for the spine. Such devices generally provide a groove or recess for the spine to rest in in conjunction with a convex contoured lumbar support. In doing so, the pressure or friction impacting the spine during such exercises is alleviated. However, this does not solve the problems associated with pressure, increased friction or skin-to-skin interaction in the sacral or coccyx area.